1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method for operating a gluing system for gluing blanks for producing and/or packaging cigarettes or other smokable objects, in which the blanks are conveyed along glue valves of the gluing system. The invention also relates to a corresponding gluing system which can be operated using this method.
2. Prior Art
The gluing systems which are used in the cigarette industry and are intended to glue blanks are becoming increasingly complex and sophisticated. For instance, German patent application no. DE 10 2008 027 259 proposes regulating the glue valves on the basis of different operating parameters in such a manner that the sizes of the portions of glue produced on the blanks by the glue valves in each case can be kept at a constant value during the entire period of operation.
Conventional controllers for gluing systems cannot be used or can be used only to a limited extent to implement such a method. In the case of such controllers, a central control device controls all glue valves. For this purpose, unidirectional signal lines run from the central control device to each glue valve according to the number of valves to be controlled. However, return lines from the valves to the controller are not provided. Such controllers are static, relatively slow and inflexible.